Eric Holder: fake designer purses put American lives at risk.

[500grains]

I used to think that Isaac Asimov had a great imagination, but I think this one beats him fair and square.



Department of Homeland Security has seized more than 80 domain names since November – shutting down websites it alleges have been trafficking in counterfeit goods.

Attorney General Eric Holder says the bogus merchandise, including fake purses and prescription drugs, are harming the U.S. economy and endangering American lives.

...

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/20/homeland-securitys-crackdown-web-sites-trafficking-counterfeit-goods-raises/#ixzz18iHuNOxE

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/20/homeland-securitys-crackdown-web-sites-trafficking-counterfeit-goods-raises/



http://ts1.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=395343171952&id=9b42d94934982f922ef01ba34983bfeb

[Buck]

Counterfiet goods are a source of hard cash for several terror groups that would do us harm... Try searching "al Qaeda" "Hamas" and "Counterfiet" in google and look at all the hits... Im personaly am gald that he did something...

B

From: http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/testimony/312.pdf



This point was well made recently by Treasury
Undersecretary Stuart Levey when he said: "We have indications
that terrorist groups like al Qaeda and Hamas are feeling the
pressure and are hurting for money. We are also seeing terrorist
groups avoiding formal financing channels and instead resorting to
riskier and more cumbersome financial conduits like bulk cash
smuggling." One rich source of bulk cash is the sale of counterfeit
consumer products.

[SW-Shooter]

But Chinese rip offs of U.S. patents are okay Mr. Holder?

[thopkins22]

Counterfiet goods are a source of hard cash for several terror groups that would do us harm... Try searching "al Qaeda" "Hamas" and "Counterfiet" in google and look at all the hits... Im personaly am gald that he did something...

B

As long as gasoline derived from Saudi oil is sold in this country, I reserve the right to scream BS at every single measure they take to defund terrorist groups. From those stupid ads talking about illegal drugs funding them, to protecting the IP of Burberry and Louis Vuitton, and whatever else they do. Until we address the Saudis it's all incredibly irrelevant and frankly I find their talk of terrorism and these websites to be condescending.

Want to protect IP? Great, me too. But let's not do it under the umbrella of putting the hurt on extremists, while our leaders refuse to address those who could actually put the hurt on them.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mac5.56]

Ummmm, just another example of your failed attempt at logic, and your degree from the Beck school of thought 500. Did you miss the: Prescription Drugs part of the sentence you quoted? Look again man, it's right there in the sentence you actually quoted, like right after designer purses. Can't help but notice that you didn't actually put that item listed in the sentence in Bold Red.

See, believe it or not, fake prescription drugs actually do put Americans at risk. They result in side affects and death and horrible stuff like that. You know the big D, that word that translates as the worst conclusion of "risky" business, as in DEAD?!?!?

Figures you would miss something like that. But your right, Holder's really a closet Muslim with stock in Prada that is trying to smuggle illegal dish washers from Iran into the country inside an authentic Louis Vuitton steamer trunk. It's all a conspiracy to destroy your little stake in the "american dream".

[kmrtnsn]

Ummmm, just another example of your failed attempt at logic, and your degree from the Beck school of thought 500. Did you miss the: Prescription Drugs part of the sentence you quoted? Look again man, it's right there in the sentence you actually quoted, like right after designer purses. Can't help but notice that you didn't actually put that item listed in the sentence in Bold Red.

See, believe it or not, fake prescription drugs actually do put Americans at risk. They result in side affects and death and horrible stuff like that. You know the big D, that word that translates as the worst conclusion of "risky" business, as in DEAD?!?!?

Figures you would miss something like that. But your right, Holder's really a closet Muslim with stock in Prada that is trying to smuggle illegal dish washers from Iran into the country inside an authentic Louis Vuitton steamer trunk. It's all a conspiracy to destroy your little stake in the "american dream".

You forgot to mention the following, Eric Holder = Department of JUSTICE; not Homeland Security.

I suppose that Fake Magpul and Tangodown products are okay in his eyes too. It is about protecting all kinds of intellectual property; music, software, movies, etc. Designer brands are just the most mentioned.

[mr_smiles]

You forgot to mention the following, Eric Holder = Department of JUSTICE; not Homeland Security.

I suppose that Fake Magpul

Not sure about tangodown, but a lot of that Magpul stuff is their PTS line that shit heads try to sell as the real deal on ebay and other sites.

[500grains]

Apparently the Attorney General of the United States does not have sufficient command of the English language to express the concept which Mac5.56 offers us as the one and only true meaning of the sentence.

Just another bungle by the most inept administration in history...

[ForTehNguyen]

Holder trying to act like DHS?

[SteyrAUG]

Ummmm, just another example of your failed attempt at logic, and your degree from the Beck school of thought 500. Did you miss the: Prescription Drugs part of the sentence you quoted? Look again man, it's right there in the sentence you actually quoted, like right after designer purses. Can't help but notice that you didn't actually put that item listed in the sentence in Bold Red.

See, believe it or not, fake prescription drugs actually do put Americans at risk. They result in side affects and death and horrible stuff like that. You know the big D, that word that translates as the worst conclusion of "risky" business, as in DEAD?!?!?

Figures you would miss something like that. But your right, Holder's really a closet Muslim with stock in Prada that is trying to smuggle illegal dish washers from Iran into the country inside an authentic Louis Vuitton steamer trunk. It's all a conspiracy to destroy your little stake in the "american dream".

While I agree Holder is a complete ****ing idiot, I do have to agree also that in this case he was talking about fake medication being the risk and not fake purses.

Why we aren't focusing more exclusively on the fake medication and taking time to worry about fake purses is another matter.

[John_Wayne777]

While I agree Holder is a complete ****ing idiot, I do have to agree also that in this case he was talking about fake medication being the risk and not fake purses.

Why we aren't focusing more exclusively on the fake medication and taking time to worry about fake purses is another matter.

Because there are multiple layers of concern. As Buck mentioned above, counterfeitting rings are profitable endeavors that are used to funnel money to all sorts of nefarious actors, including terrorists. Terrorist groups have been very successful in raising funds in the United States through all sorts of activities from running "charities" to running strings of convenience stores to cigarette diversion (running cigarettes bought in low tax areas to high tax areas, or forging tax stamps, etc) and even counterfeitting cigarettes.

Counterfeiting generally touches on organized crime and involves the kind of people we really want the government to go after. It's not the DOJ expending all of their manpower going after the guys selling fake purses on the streets of NYC or LA.


Holder trying to act like DHS?

You have to understand the labyrinthine nature of the U.S. federal government. Counterfeiting goods falls under the regulatory and criminal authority of several agencies within the federal government that fall under different departments. Counterfeit cigarettes, for instance, falls under the authority of ICE, the BATFE, the Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau (bet you've never heard of them before) and Customs and Border Protection. Various elements of the trade bring it under the authority of different agencies. ICE is involved if the counterfeits are imported, the FBI is involved if the counterfeits are sold online, etc.

Counterfeiting isn't a single thing...it's a chain of criminal acts that involve a number of agencies in multiple federal departments, and that's ignoring the various state and local entities involved as well.

EDIT --

Something I'll throw out there for general consumption:

I'm not a fan of the current administration or their policies. We must remember, however, that government isn't solely a function of who is holding elective office. I wouldn't piss on Eric Holder if he was on fire, but that doesn't mean that everything he says is dishonest or an attempt at infringing on my freedoms. I wouldn't trust him any farther than I can throw him, mind you, but this effort and the concerns he expressed about terrorists that walk among us are not a plot by dudes twirling their moustaches while muttering "Excellent!" nefariously under their breaths. It's just objective reality that terrorists are looking for revenue because the United States and much of the civilized nations of the world have spent the better part of twenty years trying to destroy their ability to raise and transfer money from place to place. The actions of the U.S. government and others since 9/11 have also put a real hurting on the ability of international terror groups to operate with freedom. As a result they've tried to diversify their tactics and sources of revenue. Thus "the next attack" is likely to be another Shahzad rather than a complex plot involving sophisticated weapons of mass destruction, and counterfeit goods become linked with counterterrorism efforts.

The bad guys present a moving target. However repulsive Holder may be as a human being and as an attorney general, when he speaks about efforts like this they are generally the result of what a lot of really good people in really good organizations are urging decision makers to do.

[Business_Casual]

Damn straight, they are - if I accidentally bought my wife a fake handbag as a gift, she would kill me!

B_C

[Mac5.56]

Damn straight, they are - if I accidentally bought my wife a fake handbag as a gift, she would kill me!

B_C

That is absolutely hilarious, and knowing you, she probably knows how to shoot as well... :)

[Mac5.56]

You forgot to mention the following, Eric Holder = Department of JUSTICE; not Homeland Security.


My bad, the lines seem to be blurring so much ever since the creation of Homeland Security, I dropped the ball on this. My apologies, not an excusable mistake honestly.